I'm working with a very motivated pregnant mom.  She has nursed one baby
already and fed EBM to another, who had Down Syndrome and was unable to
nurse.

She has now been diagnosed with Graves Disease/hyperthyroidism during her
third pregnancy.  While there is research to show that thyroid suppressing
drugs are available which don't pass into milk beyond a trace, and while
babies can be tested periodically to make sure their thyroids are not
affected, there are still really mixed opinions about whether nursing is
appropriate.  Mom has done lots of research and has seen everything I've
seen.

Does anyone here have an inside track on something really definitive, to
help persuade a health-care team that this mom can nurse and baby can be
monitored?  Part of the difficulty is that she lives in a fairly small town
with an insular medical community, and if one doctor "fires" her, she will
have trouble finding another.  She does not want to fly under the radar and
really can't, because she needs a doc to keep an eye on the baby's
thyroid.  Her perspective is that breastfeeding seems so dispensable that
they figure they can just tell her not to nurse and not have to deal with
the rest, and she's not buying it.

I love working with this kind of mom.  She's very kind and articulate and
willing to go to the mat for her baby while respectfully educating everyone
around her.

Lynn Carter OFS LLLL IBCLC
Missouri, USA

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